Brothers
by Jamezy
Summary: The SSV Normandy begins to seek out the geth after the battle of the Citadel and stumble upon an ancient stealth craft. In this craft is the last of a elite unit of Dirilians, an old race of organics fused with cybernetics who lost their fight against the Reapers. Rated T for now. Three OC among many familiar faces.
1. Chapter 1

**FD12-HG Shuttle**  
-Troop Compartment-

"What are we doing here? We should be fighting the Reapers down to the last man not stuffing ourselves into cryo and waiting it out!" Romyonalla shouted. "Our city, no our planets have been burned to the ground and you want to freeze us and launch into space hoping some future race finds us? Your Honored Guard! Both of you are! How are you even in this ship and not planet side fighting by your brothers and cousins?" Romyonalla's Net swirling with dim flickers of orange. He didn't understand why they had to run, more importantly he didn't understand why the Vitiak pack, the most decorated Honored Guard pack in the entire Dirilian military was going into cryogenic storage. He was only 24 years old; therefor he was born into a galaxy plagued by the Reapers and new nothing but war. He was known by the Dirilians as a battle born, someone who was baptized by war and therefor was destined to be a soldier before he was even out of his mother's womb. His blood brother Shaadyvetak was already of military age when he was born and by the time Romyonalla was 5 he was part of Honored Guard Vitiak. Romyonalla's train of thought was broken by Kidemalitec speaking.

"We are here because the higher ups demanded it. They said that it's too late to defeat the Reapers and we are charged with protecting future races of the galaxy from the threat. We were chosen because we are the strongest and the smartest." Kidemalitec explained calmly while he stared intently at the metal link puzzle floating in front of him, the metal links enveloped in blue biotics as they were twisting in multiple directions trying to find a way to be separated. His Net was aglow with puzzled swirls as he tried to solve the metal riddle.

"Here let me get that for you." Shaadyvelap said raising his hand to catch the puzzle being bioticly tossed to him. The burly man examined the puzzle closely and then promptly griped the two metal pipes in either hand.

"No don't d-" Kidemalitec stammered quickly as he reached out to stop Shaadyvetal to not avail. Shaadyvelap quickly pulled apart the two pieces, snapping them apart before tossing the two pieces back to Kidemalitec with a smug grin.

"There you go Kid." Shaadyvelap sneered.

"Shaad that's not the point of the puzzle." Kid snapped.

"Yes it is, you need the two pieces apart and I got them apart." Shaad snickered

"Are you two serious? Who gives a fuck about a puzzle? We are running away and hiding! Vitiak is hiding!" Romyonalla yelled, his Net once again lighting up with a blaze of furious orange.

"We are not running!" Shaad yelled, now fed up with his blood brother. "And we are not hiding! We are waiting."

"For what? For some stupid under developed race to find us floating around in space? How do we know they will even find us? What if they just kill us the second we get out of the cryo pod?" Romyonalla said as he paced around the ships hold.

"Romyo they won't kill us." Kid calmly stated.

"And what makes you think that?" Romyo asked. Kid looked at Shaad confused at the question to see he was equally puzzled. Kid turned back to Romyo and leaned forward a bit.

"Because, we are Honored Guard Romyo. Do you really think that some under dev'd alien can defeat an Honored Guard?" Kid explained with a tone that is reserved for explaining things to children.

"Ok so where's that leave me? I'm just a trainee; I haven't earned my Meka yet." Romyo joked while pointing at the decorative scarves that loosely hung on Kid and Shaad's neck.

"Well I suppose you'll end up in a lab somewhere being cut up by the under dev's." Shaad said dryly.

"Yeah wonderful, maybe they'll make into a jacket or an ashtray. Oh or like a nice hat!" Romyo said in a dramatic voice while making over exaggerated hand gestures. "Where are we going anyway? Where's the cryo lab?"

"Yaming, in the Vind nebula." Kid said as he walked to the cockpit of the ship. The ship the three were on was built to hold an entire pack of Honored Guard which was around 20, maybe 24 if everyone squeezed together. But with just the three of them there was ample room to walk around. Kid sat down in the pilots chair and began to look over the monitors. As he eyed them he quickly slid his right index finger across his left hand from the bottom of the palm to the tip of his middle finger. A blue display came to life over his hand and he started to flick though the various menus. He stopped on one and gave it a sharp tap bringing up a large map of the galaxy. "Here." He said as he tapped a part of the map causing in to zoom in quickly and settled on a white ice covered planet.

"Nice I love snow!" Romyo cheered.

"Fuck snow." Shaad grumbled as he tightened his Meka at the mere thought of the icy powder.

"What ever gets you off Shaady, I prefer women to be honest but if snows your thing then snows your thing." Romyo joked.

"Smart ass." Shaad muttered as he walked up to Kid. "What's our ETA?" he asked as he leaned over Kid.

"Twenty minutes till boots hit the ground." Kid said as the ship shuddered from exiting FLT. "We might want to armor up."

"Hey Romyo." Shaad shouted over his shoulder.

"What?" Romyo said as he picked up the two pieces of Kids puzzle. He slid his right finger across his left hand activating his Hard Light Multi Tool; he turned his palm down to face the ground and the blue screen flipped into a thick blue plate that covered his hand and half of his forearm. He quickly taped the back of his hand bringing up a menu and then selected one of the options. The hard light plate shifted and folded to form around his hand and index finger. He touched his index finger to each broken end of the toy leaving a small blue resin and then connected them, with another touch and a hiss the two pieces melded back into one.

"Planet side in twenty, ready up."

"Yes Mom." Romyo muttered as he placed the puzzle on a bench. He walked over to a locker and keyed in a code on its bright blue interface. The locker hissed as it opened revealing an intimidating black suit of heavy armor. He pulled out each piece and pushed them together over top of his body, the inner workings of the armor grabbing together and sealing with the plates closing down on top. Dirilian armor wasn't like the other races armors; the Kantian and Rulskiar armor was smooth and sleek plates while the Yidori had skin tight gel armor. The Dirilians however had ridged geometric plates that had no curves other than the slightly rounded edges where two angles met and those were there just to avoid sharp corners. The plates covered the shins and thighs with a knee plate in between, the waist and groin as well as the abdomen and chest, the biceps and forearms as well as the elbow plate and two large shoulder plates that. Basically anywhere there wasn't a joint was covered by overlapping plates and where there wasn't a plate there was a flexible gel weave that hardened on impact.

After the armor was all linked together and sealed Romyo flexed and stretched his limbs to make sure everything fit properly and there weren't any kinks. Lastly he grabbed his helmet. An entire plate covered his mouth and cheeks while wrapping under his jaw that could split in two and slide back to expose his mouth. Sitting atop that plate was a smooth black visor that could polarize to reveal his eyes, the visor itself was smooth bet it had a geometric shaped edge in order to run flush to the plates it sat against. The final plate covered the top and back of his head and came to a point on his forehead like a stout cap, preventing sunlight from reflecting off of the visor. He placed the helmet on his head and it hissed at it sealed him in protecting him from toxic air and forming a vacuum for zero atmosphere combat scenarios. It could even hold one hour of oxygen.

He looked at Kid and Shaad as they pieced their armor together. The sets were identical and only worn by Honored Guard and Honored Guard Trainees, the only difference was the orange Honored Guard insignia of a Shirk on Kid and Shaad shoulder plates and right breast plate. The orange symbol was two orange blades facing away from each other; they were thin at the bottom and sharply grew twice as big as the bottom and the angled back to from a point. Both sections of the blade were equal in length and each had one flat side that was almost touching the opposite blade. The whole thing was surrounded in a ring that started from the bottom of the blades and connected at the right above the points. This is the same double blade that can spring forth from an Honored Guards forearm in a moment's notice, an intimidating length of roughly half a meter of wickedly sharp death. This was the only difference between a trainee and a full pack member's armor was the insignia, the same way that only a full pack member had a Meka scarf. The Honored Guard believed that it's not the armor that made the soldier but it's the flag on his sleeve, the colors that he flies. That's what makes a soldier.

The three men quickly activated their Hard Light Multi Tools and linked it to their helmets HUD; they looked around taking in the sudden burst of information.

"Ok we are now in radio range of Vitiak Pack. Romyo hail them while we break atmosphere." Kid ordered as he took control of the ship.

"This is Vorchedelias 1st Class of Vitiak, we are inbound and ready for cryo, ETA five minutes. Mark the LZ and set the table boys, we're almost home." Romyo said into his helmet. After a few seconds of no response Romyo tried again. "Vitiak respond, we are inbound and require a LZ. I repeat we are inbound and require a LZ, respond." He was greeted with another chorus of silence. "There's no answer." Romyo said looking up at Shaad.

"Vitiak this is 3rd Class Sedivitecka requesting a LZ, our ETA is four minutes. Respond." Kid piped up. Silence once again. Kid looked back at Shaad. "Something's wrong."

"Give me control of the ships coms. I'll see if I can get anything." Romyo said calmly while removing a panel off of the instrument panel and activating his Hard Light Multi Tool. Shaad watched at his technologically inclined blood brother soldered and cut through a seemingly infinite pile of wires and circuit boards. "Ok I've got to hard restart the ship electronics for this to start working." He said looking up at Kid. "Restarting on my mark…three…two…one…mark!" Kid struggled against the controls as the ship whirred into silence as every system shut down.

"How long will this take Romyo?" Shaad asked as he grabbed a cross bar to steady himself.

"Uhhh hold on I can fix this!" Romyo yelled in panic.

"Fix what?"

"The Ship."

"What did you do!?"

"I don't know!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW?!"

"SHUT UP SHAAD!"

"FIX THE FUCKING SHIP ASSHOLE!"

"I AM FIXING IT!"

"YOU HAD ME FOOLED!"

"GOT IT!" Romyo yelled as the ships computers sprang to life. "Got it." He sighed in relief as he sat on the floor.

"1st Cl… Vo…elias…is Vitiak…we..ar…ver run…ith…trinated…orces I…ay again…e are un…ack by indo…for…e…ave suff…avy…asualties!" Blared over the ships intercom in static filled bursts.

"Vitiak this is Vorchedelias 5th Class our ETA is two minutes, we require a LZ. I repeat, mark the LZ." Shaad boomed through his helmets speakers. He stood their motionless staring at the intercom, after five long seconds the speaker crackled to life.

"M...rking L… is hot…repe…LZ…hot!" Explosions and shots could be heard in the background now, indicating the fighting had been pushed deeper in the facility.

"Shaad the LZ has been marked, you and Romyo have one minute to gear up." Kid said as his hands started to dance across the ships instruments.

Shaad and Romyo quickly moved to the weapons locker to prepare for battle. Shaad opened his storage locker pulling out his Zealot Heavy Repeater; a deadly heavy assault weapon that made up for its below average capacity cylinder of 20 rounds by firing devastating 15mm plasma rounds. He examined the matte black weapon, its geometric shapes matching his armor. With the press of a button the Zealots angled features lifted off of the base of the weapon, Shaad watched the internals fold and compress before the weapons shell closed and did the same turning the almost meter long gun into only 40cm. He placed the gun on his back and placed his standard issue Iridi, a powerful magnum with an average capacity, on his hip. He glanced over at Romyo who was compressing his Light Assault Repeater or LAR for short. It was popular among the Honored Guards because of its light weight design and perfect balance by firing 10mm p-rounds and having a 36 round capacity, while also featuring the ability to fire rails. Rails were precooled plasma that is shaped before firing to allow unrivaled piercing ability and range but came at a large capacity loss.

Romyo grabbed Kids Iridi and his Lenik Long Range Repeater. The 2LR Repeater was one of the best sniper rifles ever produced boasting an impressive one kilometer range using brutal 30mm p-rounds that came at a cost of needing to cycle the cylinder every shot. It was also able to be used as a marksmen's rifle by converting the rounds to 20mm and increasing the capacity to 8. Romyo walked up to Kid and tapped the back of his neck, as Kid leaned forward Romyo placed the rifle and pistol in their respective slots.

"Touching down in twenty seconds, reading multiple heat signatures in the LZ." Kid shouted.

The side door of the ship hissed as it slid forward, a sliver of light outlining thick metal. Romyo and Shaad cycled their weapons, the cylinder giving a quick whirl as it activated and the guns lights illuminated. With their weapons raised at the door Kid yelled "Five seconds!" and the door slid open to reveal a snowy landing pack littered with figures that turned to meet their foe. Romyos LAR barked hardy clacks as its cylinder whirred while Shaads Zealot thundered at a steady beat, the plasma obliterating the figures with merciless efficiency.

Romyos head turned slightly as he heard a quick high pitched whir followed by a loud crack, he saw the barrel of Kids 2LR and traced it to a black outline of a person who had a large hole through its chest. The firing continued as the three Guards seamlessly stepped from the ship and quickly walked towards the door to the facility, their weapons twitching left and right searching for targets and firing on whoever had the misfortune of being seen. In less than twenty seconds the LZ was barren of life save the three Guards who came to a kneel at the door, Romyo ripped open a panel and quickly spliced wires as Shaad and Kid faced the other direction scanning for hostiles. Romyo silently tapped Shaads shoulder and Shaad quickly pivoted as the door opened and started walking in tandem with Romyo down the hall followed by Kid who was walking backwards, watching the door until it closed and then facing forward with Shaad and Romyo.

The three men knelt, scanning the barren hall. At the end of the hall was a soldier sitting with his back against the wall and his hands on his abdomen. Shaad motioned and the three rose and made their way to the man, as they got closer Shaad recognized the armor and then spied the orange Shirk on his shoulder. His hands were stained with bright orange blood as they pressed against multiple entry wounds, his right hand leaving the wound and griping his side arm as he heard the footsteps.

"Vitiak." The three guards echoed out of instinct. The wounded man holstered his Iridi and placed his hand back on his abdomen, his head tilting up to see Shaad move his hands from his wounds. He quickly grabbed a Heal Foam container from a lifted plate on his thigh that closed that sealed when the container was clear. Shaad inserted a small nozzle on the end of the container into the holes with a swift hiss after it left each bullet wound. Foam slowly expanded from each wound and hardened over effectively stopping the bleeding.

"What happened here? Where is the rest of Vitiak?" Kid asked, placing a hand on the man's shoulder.

Through heavy breathing the man replied "I don't know how they got past the sensors. They were just here. Haiyd went down first. He didn't even draw his weapon. He was just, cut down like an animal."

"What happened next?" Shaad asked as he scanned his vitals with his HLM Tool.

"They indoctrinated pushed us back, peppering us while we were kept busy by those fucking monsters." His voice grew hollow and empty. "There were dozens of those things, I heard one of them to my right and I drove my Shirk into its chest but…it." He swallowed hard as he looked up at Kid. "It was a child, a little Dirilian girl. She couldn't have been more than nine. I…I twisted my Shirk deeper but she kept trying to grab me before she died, staring at me, those eyes, rotten flesh and metal. Cold. Dead." He turned his head away as he paused.

"Is there anyone left? How did they breach the facility?" Shaad demanded.

"You've lost a lot of blood. What's your name and rank? My HUD doesn't register you." Kid inquired.

"They used a-" The soldier started before he was interrupted by Romyo.

"EMP." Romyo interjected. "Fried the whole place, none of the systems are responding. Deep scans have gone too."

"Can you fix it?" Shaad asked.

"Yeah just give me a couple minutes to shit out some new wires and circuit boards." Romyo snickered, still scanning the area for enemy forces.

"Stow it Romyo." Shaad snapped. He returned he gaze to the Soldier. "Who are you brother. I don't know you but you've earned your mark."

"Gaitetel Ydikamet, Honored Guard, 2nd Class, 0059-0954-11." Gaitetel recited though heavy breathing. "HUD went with the EMP, Haiyd was our tech so we've been flying blind. The rest of my pack was pushed deeper to protect the cryo station."

"Hey Gait toss me your helmet, I'll fix our little HUD problem." Romyo chirped as he holstered his LAR and clapped his hands together in a 'toss it to me' style. Gaits visor unpolarized and his mouth plate hissed as it split and slid behind his head. Dried orange blood traced down his chin from his mouth, his face worn from battle and his eyes robbed of spirit. He pulled of the helmet and gave it to Romyo. "Come to daddy." Romyo dirtily slurred as his HLM Tool sprang to life.

Kid leaned back down to Gait. "We will find your brothers cousin, I promise you that." Kids head turned to Romyo as he cooed. "Ohhh you've been a bad girl, I'm going to have to punish you." Sparks flew in every direction as Romyo continued to make dirty sexual remarks towards the helmet. Kids head shook as he turned back to Gait who now had an eyebrow raised and a twisted look on his face.

"Pups a piece of work, he carries himself like a soldier but has a mouth that's liable to get his ass kicked." Gait said.

Shaad laughed. "The only reason we keep the little shit around is he's some sort of tech god."

"How was it for you?" Romyo whispered loud enough for the others to hear while running his finger along the helmets cheek plate. "Here you go Gait, good as new! And I got your Packs id code so now if they see us or we see them it will restart their HUD so there won't be any friendly fire incidents." He cheered as he placed the helmet back on Gaits head and giving it a quick pat.

Shaad stood straight and turned. "Lets move." Gait stirred and pushed himself off of the ground.

"I'm coming with you." He mutter as he drew his Iridi. "I will die on my feet with some dignity."

"Are you sure?" Kid asked.

"Yeah man you've got a bunch of holes in you, as someone without holes in me I can't be sure but it looks like it hurts."

"I'm fine. No mountain to high or river to deep." he started.

"No soldier to strong or scholar to smart." Shaad Kid and Romyo chanted with Gait. The four turned in unison and made their way to the stairwell. The voices echoed through the halls as the Guards walked with purpose and power.

"_We are Honored Guard._"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey so I just figured out that the personal announcements at the beginning of each chapter aren't just made and tacked on, you have to actually put it in the text. Who knew? So before we get to chapter 2 I'm going to explain a few things quickly. A lot of questions about my new race the Dirilians will be answered in the next coming chapters. I didn't want to come right out and give a huge biography about them; I wanted it to come up organically in the story. That being said if there is anything super specific you want to know just PM me and ill will put it into the story. I'll try to answer them all on my own but there could be some stuff I missed so don't hesitate to ask. Anyway here is chapter 2 of Brothers!**

**Cryogenic Launch Station  
**-Northern Staircase-

"Hey Gait." Romyo whispered as the Guards crept through the darkened staircase.

"What?" Gait rasped, his left hand still looming over his wounds and his right tightly griped his Iridi.

"What pack are you from? You're not Vitiak but back when you were dying in the hallway you reacted to our callout." Romyo asked, eyes darting back and forth scanning the darkened corners for hostiles.

"I was part of Peyitr pack but we were wiped out by a reaper, I was the only one left." Gait said darkly. "I was moved to Druyem just in time to get on a shuttle to come here to assist Vitiak into cryo. Vitiak missed a check in so we were sent to investigate, but when we got here everything was fine. We were able to get coms no problem and there were no signs of any trouble."

"Then what happened?" Shaad asked as they reached the basement level. They looked down a short hall to see another door. As they approached Shaad tapped his hand on the control panel and stared at the door waiting for it to open.

"Do you even know what an EMP is?" Romyo piped up as he walked to the door opening his HLM Tool.

"Fix the door smart ass." Shaad spat at Romyo. His head flicked back to Gait. "What happened?"

"Like I said everything seemed normal. We started to wander about talking to Vitiak when it happened." Gait stopped dead in his tracks. Kid and Shaad looked at him as Romyo tossed him a half assed glance before turning his focus back to the door. "A warning alarm sounded and we went on full alert. Most quickly formed small squads no matter what pack they were from and then…" Gait looked around at the ground, clearly still bothered by what he had seen. "Druyem pack just exploded on us."

"Shaad explodes once a day. Big deal." Romyo snickered as the door slid open just in time for the Guards to enter.

"No they, they physically exploded. Someone rigged their suits to detonate." Gait stuttered.

"What?" Romyo muttered as his pace slowed to a stop, confused at the words that left Gaits mouth. The three once again stopped.

"Most of us were in squads with Druyem. Anyone who was got taken out first, then the Reapers showed up." Gait said with disgust in his voice. "Then we heard Druyems Alpha speak through our helmets '_You are ready for ascension cousins, today is a proud day for you all for you should be honored to be a part of the masters plan_' and the EMP hit."

"Indoctrinated." Kid observed. "He deserved better."

"Fuck!" Shaad shouted, slamming his fist against the wall. "This was supposed to be kept off records so this wouldn't happen!"

"Easy brother." Kid said placing his hand on Shaads shoulder. "Focus on the task at hand."

The four men snapped for alert as gun fire echoed from deep in the facility. Before the shots were snuffed out they were already running to the source of the fighting, weapons at the ready. They stacked up at a door, Shaad leading followed by Romyo, Kid, and Gait. Romyos hand was a whir on his HLM Tool and he nodded at Shaad as the blue gauntlet on his wrist faded. Romyo watched as Shaad opened the door only to be met with one of the monsters immediately leaping on to him. The quiet was quickly filled with the sounds of battle.

"CONTACTS!" Romyo yelled as he took a knee at the door and leaned into the room firing his LAR into the dark in sharp bursts. Shaad let out a fierce yell as his Shirk burst forth from his wrist and slammed into the bowels of the creature, ripping sideways sending flesh and oils across the hall. Romyo and Gait were already in the room firing at the shadows charging at them, the monsters dropping in wet thuds as plasma punched gnarled holes into their bodies. "Moving right!" Romyo bellowed as he leapt over a table and began crouch walking toward the end of the room as his upper body pivoted as he aimed, pausing for a fraction of a second to fire. The unmistakable thunder of Shaads Zealot echoed in the room as hunks of plasma obliterated its targets. The sound of the Zealot mirrored the flickers of cyan plasma illuminating Shaad in a strobe effect as they left the repeater. Gait moved from cover to cover as his Iridi erupted in loud bangs while his Shirk glowing in the dark, disappearing into monsters as they fell to the mighty blade. The cracks of Kids 2LR were muting all of the other noises every three seconds, the 30mm rounds ripping bodies apart on impact.

"Clear?" Kid yelled as the shooting stop abruptly. He watched as the friendly markers moved around in the dark room, telling him of his brothers and cousins location. After a few seconds his question was answered by a chorus of 'Clear.' from the shadows. The lights on Romyos helmet lit up his field of vision as he knelt to examine a corpse.

"Only monsters? How could they take this place with only monsters?" Romyo questioned as his helmets lights raised to looks at Gait.

"The turned must deeper." Gait answered "This must be the cleanup crew."

"For a cleanup crew they sure make a fuckin mess." Romyo laughed as he examined one of the monsters heads. His finger traced the neat holes in its forehead before turning it to see the nonexistent back of its head. "Look at that grouping boys! Marksmanship at its finest." He proudly boasted.

"Let's go." Shaad muttered as he moved to the door at the end of the room.

"Kid take my picture!" Romyo said as he planted his boot on the monsters chest and held his LAR in a pose. Kid shook his head and followed Shaad. "You guys are no fun."

"This isn't a time for fun _pup._" Gait snarled, irritated at the infinite supply of immaturity that poured out of Romyos mouth. "This could be the end of Dirilians as we know it, we could be the last bastion of hope for our people and the next."

Romyo sighed as he lifted himself from his prize and jogged after his brothers. The three of them examined the fork in the hall and pondered at their choices.

"Left." Shaad ordered.

"Why left?" Kid asked.

"I think it's right" Gait chimed in.

"No it makes sense if it was straight." Kid responded.

"We are going left."

"We should go straight."

"Right"

"I said left, we are going left." Shaad growled.

"Why should we listen to you?"

"It's not wise to disagree with the man with the bigger gun." Shaad stated hefting his Zealot.

"Technically my 2LR is higher caliber." Kid said as he glanced at his sniper rifle.

"If I had my P2R this wouldn't be up for discussion." Gait scoffed.

"My penis is enormous!" Romyo interjected in a low voice while comically puffing out his chest and strutting between the three arguing guards. "You guys are fucking retarded. The sign says cryo is straight." He said as he pointed to a sign on the wall. The three men glanced at each other and followed Romyo down the hall. More gunshots erupted from down the hall and screaming could be heard, they both stopped at the same time. The Guards were already sprinting down the hall weapons still raised at top speed. They stopped at a door labeled cryo and Shaad pounded his hand on the doors console and knelt at the door waiting.

"Seriously Shaady what's wrong with you?" Romyo asked, looking down at his HLM Tool as he accessed the door.

"The EMP is still in effect?" Shaad asked as he looked at Romyo.

"Yes?" Romyo said in a half question half 'are you serious' tone. Romyos HLM Tool shut off and the doors console relit dimly. Shaad pushed the button and his HUD flared with ID tags of Vitiak and Druyem. "Fuck." Romyo whispered as the four of them slowly walked in the room as they observed the devastation that had transpired. The cryo room was littered with the bodies of turned from multiple species. Most were the respective races commandos with Reaper markings and cybernetics forced onto them.

"There must be at least a hundred of the turned down here." Kid gasped as he stepped over dead bodies.

"They were all commandos." Gait sighed. "Vitiak put up a good fight, I only count 16 casualties."

"How many of our brothers died in the initial attack?" Shaad asked, checking his fallen comrades for signs of life.

"Ten." Gait said coldly, kicking one of the turned to see if it was truly dead.

"Vitiak was thirty strong, we are missing one man." Shaad said as he searched the bodies faster.

"You can count?" Romyo joked as he walked over to the cryo pods. He stared at the thirty empty pods; his head drooped as he thought of his brothers that wouldn't fill them.

"It's ok Romyo." Kid reasoned as he pated Romyo on the back.

"Tirig owed me money." Romyo dryly chuckled. "I knew he wouldn't pay me."

"They fought well and died well. And they did it so we could make it" Kid said, seeing Romyo hiding his emotions with humor.

"Vitiak." Romyo strongly said as he placed his fist over his heart.

"Vitiak." The other men mimicked, saluting there fallen brothers.

"Let's go." Shaad murmured as he and Gait met them at the pods. "Come with us Gait. You've earned it."

"Honored." Gait replied.

The four men removed their armor and weapons and started to neatly pack them into the storage compartments in the cryo tubes. Romyo walked over to a console and started to activate the cryo sequence while restarting the room's electronics and sealing it.

"Where's the paste?" Kid asked.

"Aw shit I hate the paste." Romyo moaned. He cringed as he thought back to his first cryo, remembering filling his mouth with the paste and feeling it expand as he froze. It filled his mouth and nose to prevent what the doctors called freezer burn. It wasn't bad until the thaw. He remembered trying to breathe but couldn't due to the paste and had to violently cough and vomit it out to be able to breathe. He always joked about how happy he was that the paste only had to go in his mouth and not anywhere else.

"Here it is." Shaad said tossing Kid a small crate. "How long can we stay frozen?"

Romyo glanced at the console again. "Well with thirty of us it could at the most be 50000 years before life support started killing us off to conserve power, but with four of us it could be around 250000." He announced. "Should take ten minutes to prep for launch. So anyone got any good stories?"

"We should have been better prepared for this war." Shaad said angrily. "We were so divided even when the proof was right there in front of us."

"Makes you wonder what would have happened if all of the races in our galaxy united." Gait pondered. "We might have made it."

"Did you guys hear about that super weapon we were making?" Romyo asked. He was met with shaking heads. "I have no idea what it was called but apparently it was built by the cycle before us. I'm guessing it was a dead end or we would have heard about it." He said as he leaned back.

"I can't think of anything else we could have done to beat the Reapers." Kid thought aloud.

"We should have forced the Yidori to help, the Kantians and the Rulskiars too. Selfish assholes just thought they could huddle up and wait out the storm." Shaad spat.

"We should have uplifted some of the other species to help us, even if it was just for cannon fodder." Gait said as he played with a tube of paste.

"Ha! Like who? The Densorins? The Protheans? Would you trust any of those under dev's to have our back? The Densorins just figured out how to make airplanes, out of wood I might add, and the Protheans aren't that far ahead." Romyo laughed as he glanced at the console. "Cryo's almost done."

"Why are they freezing so few of you?" Gait asked as he walked to his pod.

"We have another facility called Cynda that houses over a million scientists and skilled civvies and some police forces. It is well hidden but was in Reaper space last I checked. We are supposed to be a backup of that back up. They used the Honored Guard so that if Cynda fails we still have our elite to procreate new soldiers." Kid explained.

"Well unless one of you is a woman I don't think that will work." Romyo joked.

"You don't know?" Kid asked.

"What?"

"We can mate with any other species."

"Really? I might regret the sex ed lesson but how is that possible?" Romyo asked

"Well you know we have the micro nano bots right?"

"Yeah they make up the net patterns on our bodies and they build more of themselves in us right? They act as a second immune system and they help wounds heal faster."

"In the most layman's of terms yes." Kid said. "When the nano bots get to the females egg it actually scans and adapts to the female DNA in order to fertilize it."

"So what's the kid come out as? Some kinda freaky mutant?"

"No there is a 90% chance the baby will be born as whatever the females species is, 10% chance of being the males. It will always get a net though and will have the same nano bot immune system."

"So we could fuck Dirilians back into existence?" Romyo said, now very interested in the conversation.

"Yes." Kid said as he shook his head.

"I will make this my personal goal." Romyo announced as he stood proudly.

"You have only met one girl before and she told you to fuck off." Shaad laughed. "Good luck with that."

Just then one of the door swished open, the four men snapped to the ready, opening their cryo lockers and drawing their weapons. They watched as a shadowy figure walked towards the room. Then they heard a word that made them loosen their grips on the firearms.

"Vitiak." The man said as he limped into the room.

"How did you get in here?" Romyo questioned. Shaad shouted at him to quiet down and show some respect. Romyo soon saw why as the man came into view. He wore the same armor they had but with a thick orange strip going vertically up the center of his helmet minus the visor, and another stripe going down his left breast plate. He was the Vitiak Alpha. "Apologies Alpha Yry. Are you ok?"

"I am fine Romyo." Yry said as he sealed the door behind him. He walked towards the men and looked at the control panel. "Was the fighting here bad?"

"Gait here got the worst of it, we showed up late for the party but made it nonetheless" Romyo smirked "Nothing I couldn't handle Alpha, but these guys." He gestured towards Shaad and Kid. "Let's just say they were lucky I was here."

"Sure Romyo, I'm sure a trainee out preformed one of the best heavy and marksmen that Vitiak has ever seen." Yry scolds.

"Romyo thinks that just because he gets a few lucky shots..." Shaad began.

"Precision grouping." Romyo added.

"…That he's some kind of hot shot." Shaad finished.

"If only someone took my picture..." Romyo pouted.

"Is everything in order Vitiak…and…?" Yry glanced at Gait.

"Druyem. Peyitr before that. Unfortunately I am once again without a pack."

"Alpha I vouch for Gait, he has proven himself. I think he would fit in well with Vitiak." Shaad spoke up.

"I agree." Kid said as he rose and gave Gait a nod.

"He got shot like eight times and is still fighting, so yeah sure. It couldn't hurt." Romyo shrugged

"Then it's settled, you are Vitiak now Gait. That is if you choose to be a part of my pack."

"I accept. Thank you…Alpha." Gait smiled

"Our little boy is all grown up." Romyo sobbed.

"Let us begin then." Yry said.

"Everything is in order Alpha. We are ready for cryo." Shaad barked.

"Yes everything is perfect." Yry said as he walked around to the pods.

"Yes Alpha." Kids said. "We are ready."

"I see that. Good work Kid." Yry applauded. "Let the plan go ahead as scheduled."

"Yes, due to the decrease of Vitiak we are able to last in cryo for as long as 250000 years if need be." Romyo started

"Impressive, man your pods gentlemen." Yry ordered as he walked towards the console.

"I have to piss first, wouldn't want that to freeze too. I mean it can't be good for you can it?" Romyo said as he grabbed his Iridi from his locker and stuffed it in the waist band of his fatigue pants.

The others double checked their gear as Romyo left the room. Gait quickly filled his mouth with paste and stepped into his pod, as it closed he could see out of the window pane on the front of the pod. Kid watched as frost climbed its way over Gaits body, spreading like frozen fire. A green light blinked once and Kid repeated the process. Shaad watched Kid freeze while he filled his own mouth with paste. He walked over to his pod and is hissed open. He stepped backwards into the pod and it closed around him, he looked over at Yry who was still wearing his armor. Shaads head tilted as he watched Yry fiddle with his Iridi when he should have activated his cryo pod like he did with the others. Yry walked over to his pod as he looked at him and smiled.

"I'm sorry Shaad, but the masters were very clear." Yry began. Shaads confused expression turned into shock and then quickly into anger. He slammed his hands against the door of the pod but it didn't budge. "It's ok Shaad. There was nothing you could have done. The Reapers come for us all at some point and time." Yry said almost innocently. Shaads arms strained against the door, his net was flaring with angry bursts as his eyes filled with anger and hate. Yry removed his helmet and Shaad looked at his face in horror. What had once been a gruff strong face had turned into a mess of cybernetics and hollow eyes. "You will see Shaad, you and Kid will be welcomed with open arms. You are Vitiak therefor you are worthy, your new friend however." Yry paused. He quickly raised his Iridi and fired twice into Gaits pod. Shaad closed his eyes and took in a breath, he opened his eyes to see Yry now back at the console. "I'm going to put you under now Shaad, and when you wake up you will see the glory of the Reapers. Unfortunately I don't think Romyo will want to come on his own free will, but don't worry, he will be dealt with." Yry said darkly, the word slithered out of his mouth and were met with Shaad icy stare. Yry watched as a green light blinked once and he picked up a LAR from one of the dead soldiers on the ground. He checked the cylinder on the repeater and smiled. His smile quickly faded as he heard a voice from behind him.

"I told you they were lucky I was here." Romyo quipped. Yry spun around quickly with his LAR raised just in time for a plasma round to punch into his eye and explode out of the back of his skull, brain matter and blood splattered across the cryo launch console. Romyo walked over to Yry, he stared down at the dead Vitiak Alpha. "Shaads never going to believe me when I tell him this." He whispered as he pushed a button on the console and walked to his pod. He muttered profanities as he filled his mouth with paste and placed his Iridi in his locker before entering the pod. He waited to hear a VI count down the launch before sealing himself in the pod and activating the cryogenics. The last thing he saw before the freeze was piles of dead bodies, peppered with his fallen brothers, and with that he closed his eyes and let the frost take him.

The computer scanned the pods for life and promptly removed the three pods and placed them on a transport duct. The pods slowly slid into place and sealed with a hiss. With a beep the pods all locked together and shot off, eventually making their way into a special stealth shuttle and were loaded for launch. With a huge ball of fire the shuttle lifted itself off of the ground and into the sky.

As the shuttle sat in space now far away from the planet it cloaked all of its emmisions and waited to automaticly flare a non-Reaper vessel. Waiting in space for someone to find it, for someone to open it, for someone to find the last of the Honored Guard.

**A/N: Anybody see that coming? Yry indoctrinated, Gait is dead, but then again you probably weren't that attached anyway. The next chapter should be coming out soon; I just have to meticulously look over it for mistakes to appease my mild case of OCD. And another thing, if you're looking for more Mass Effect fanfics to read I would strongly recommend Masses to Masses. The author (iNf3ctioNZ) took it in a interesting direction and if you like Garrus then you love his fic. Anyway he is on Masses to Masses 4 right now and in the past 2 weeks I read the first and second and they are really good! So while you're waiting for the next chapters, seriously go check those out.**


	3. Chapter 3

**SSV Normandy**  
-Decontamination Chamber-  
5:01pm

Commander Shepard stood in the decontamination chamber with Wrex and Garrus, the waves of energy cleansing his N7 armor.

"You glad you took down Haliat Shepard?" Garrus asked.

"Of course, the man was a war criminal. He killed countless amounts of people, he deserved what he got." Shepard replied. Normally he would have tried to avoid hostilities but Haliat gave him no choice.

"We should have left him on that planet to wither and die, he didn't deserve the death he got." Wrex muttered, the massive Krogan glancing at the decontamination waves. "Too quick."

"For once I'm inclined to agree with Wrex." Garrus spoke up. "As far as Turian standards go betraying your own people in as low as it gets. It's dishonorable."

"Ha!" Wrex laughed. "Turian honor."

"Wrex." Garrus sighed. "You've known me for how long and your still making jabs like that? Hell I thought that would be over after a few good fights but after we stopped Saren and blew up Sovereign I thought for sure we would be over this."

"Don't flatter yourself Garrus. I'm not making fun of you for being Turian." Wrex explained

Garrus turned and faced Wrex, crossing his arms. "Really?" Garrus exclaimed.

"I'm making fun of Turians in general." Wrex replied with a smile creeping onto his face.

"Oh of course, how couldn't I see that?" Garrus mused. A smooth voice came from the speakers. '_Decontamination complete_'

"Finally." Wrex mumbles as he pushes past Shepard. Garrus notices Shepard taking his time to get back into the Normandy.

Garrus reached out and grabbed Shepard's shoulder and turned him around. "Shepard are you ok? You look a little, what's the expression, worse for wear?" Garrus asked.

"I'm fine, it's just a little much you know? Sovereign, Saren, the Geth and now after all we have done there are still people like Haliat out there." Shepard admitted.

"And add in the fact that the Council is denying that the Reapers even exist." Garrus added. "Not to mention they have us searching empty systems for the Geth."

"Tell me about it." Shepard chuckled. "Call it a vacation then. A thank you for all our hard work."

"Hey Commander." Joker yelled from the cockpit. "Where to next? Somewhere sunny would be nice, anywhere we aren't being shot at would be ok to."

"What's the closest planet to us Joker?"

"Some big ice giant, it's called Sybin."

"Set a course and scan it for anything of value, might as well while we're here." Shepard said before he turned back to put away his armor.

"Sure I say sunny, you say ice giant." Joker mutters under his breath as he plays with the Normandy's controls. "Nobody ever asks where the pilot wants to go."

Shepard walked down Normandy's halls which were bustling with soldiers all working to make sure the Normandy functions properly. Shepard wondered if half of them are even doing anything or just moving things around on a console because he was in the room. Shepard nodded at Presley as he walked by; he never really talked to Presley much. He supposed he would have all the time in the world in the coming months. One of the soldiers at the door gave a sharp salute as Shepard walked through and down the stairs. He began to unfasten his armor as he approached his set of lockers, he glanced over at Kaiden who was leaning against a railing opposite the lockers. After Shepard meticulously packed away his armor and weapons he turned and walked offer to Kaiden who was now fiddling with a console on the wall.

"Hey Shepard, I heard about Haliat. Rough stuff Commander, I hope you got him." Kaiden said as he shut down the display and resumed leaning on the railing. "I can't imagine the trouble he went to just to get that beacon and activate it just to track you down."

"We got him, although if Wrex had his way he would still be alive." Shepard said.

"That doesn't sound like Wrex." Kaiden said with a sideways smirk.

"Alive on the planet. Alone. With no food." Shepard explained.

"Ha. That's more like the Wrex we know." Kaiden laughed. "Were to next Shepard? More geth hunting?"

"I figure while we're in the system we might as well scan some planets, see if we can find anything useful." Shepard said as looked around the room. "Seeing as we're not going to the Citadel for shore leave until they can clear the debris."

"Do you think it was right to save the Council, I mean they never helped us when we needed it. And when we really needed it they grounded us. I just can see why you did it."

"It took them long enough to even listen to me about this threat, I figured it would take even longer with a new Council." Shepard said with a smirk. "Plus now I've got the 'I saved you' card up my sleeve."

"Yeah I suppose so, anything else you need Shepard?" Kaiden asked as he looked back at the console.

"That's it Kaiden."

"Ok Shepard, talk to you later." Kaiden said over his shoulder. "And I'd go see Liara, she was pretty worried about you."

"Thanks Kaiden. I will." Shepard said as he walked away. He remembered the night he and Liara spent together, they never really had time to talk about it since the battle with Sovereign. He wanted to but Hackett had sent him the emergency hail. The doors to the med bay opened and Dr. Chakwas looked up.

"Commander Shepard. Did everything go as planned? Nobody was injured I presume?" she said in her suave British accent. "Although injuries seem to follow you around like a bad cold."

"Nothing to worry about doctor, just checking in on Liara."

"That may be a good idea, she is always worrying about you Commander, what with you gallivanting around the galaxy." Dr. Chakwas smiled. "I believe she is still in her room."

"Thanks Doctor." Shepard said as he opened the door to Liaras room. The Asari scientist glanced up from her datapad.

"Shepard!" Liara almost jumped when she saw him walk in the room. "How are you? Are you ok?" she stammered, her hands rubbing together and her face becoming flush. Shepard smiled and when Liara noticed her mood quickly changed. "Are you laughing at me?" She asked, now a bit upset.

"No of course not." He replied, taking a step closer.

"Then why are you smiling?"

"You're cute when you get nervous." He said, now pushed right up against Liara, his arms wrapping around her.

"You think flattery will stop me from being mad at you?" She whispered as she raised her brow and gave a coy smile.

"Shall we test that theory Dr. T'Soni?" Shepard said as he leaned forward to kiss the Asari. Suddenly the Normandy's PA system crackled to life.

"-_Commander?-_" Joker said through the PA. Shepard sighed as Liara smiled patted Shepard's chest.

"What is it Joker?"

"-_You need to come up to the bridge ASAP. You won't believe what we found.-_" Joker announced.

"Joker sounds serious, which means we must be just short of disaster." Liara joked.

"Your right, I better go make sure Joker doesn't crash the ship." Shepard sighed as he walked out of Liaras cabin.

**SSV Normandy  
**-The Bridge-  
5:15pm

"What's going on Joker?" Shepard asked as he entered the bridge.

Joker turned in his chair to look at Shepard. "See for yourself Commander." He said as he looked back at the Normandy's systems. Shepard looked over Jokers shoulder at the array of holographic controls.

"Help me out Joker. What am I looking at?" Shepard asked, staring at the holographic display.

Joker looked back at Shepard with a confused look on his face. "No Commander, not on the display. There." Joker pointed to his left at the window exposing the expanse of stars sparkling in the dark void. Shepard looked out the window; his eyes narrowed searching for what Joker was talking about. Suddenly Shepard's eyes traced a gap of missing stars, the outline of a vessel clearly visible.

"What is it?" Shepard asked as he pressed his face closer to the glass.

"Don't know Commander, can't pick it up on scanners. I can't make out who it belongs to, I've never seen that type of ship architecture anywhere." Joker replied. "The chances of us finding it let alone the chances of me looking out the window at just the right time to see it, well tell the Alliance I quit. I'm going to take up gambling." Shepard backed away from the window and turned back to Joker.

"Let's get it aboard then. I want to see what it is." Shepard commanded as he walked out of the bridge.

"Aye aye Commander." Joker said as he turned the Normandy to face the object and lined it up to the cargo hold. "Attention SSV Normandy crew." He spoke into the PA system. "We are venting the cargo hold to pick up an unidentified space vessel. Please secure all loose objects in the hold and be ready for a spacewalk."

**SSV Normandy  
**-The Cargo Hold-  
5:37pm

Shepard and Kaiden watched as the object floated into the cargo hold. The two soldiers carefully grabbed the object and guided it down to the floor. The object was about the size of two Mako's stacked on top of each other. It was a flat black in color and had a ridged geometric shape, with small orange symbols peppering the hull.

"-_What is it Commander?-_" Kaidens voice crackled through Shepard's earpiece. Shepard looked over the object; a small orange symbol was on the side.

Shepard stared at the symbol. "I'm not sure, is this symbol anywhere else on your side?"

"It looks like two orange swords I think." Kaiden replied. "Let's get it secured so we can take a better look." Kaiden and Shepard quickly moved to strap the object onto the hull, flinging the straps over it and clicking them onto the grate, the fasteners automatically tightening until it hit its limit. The two soldiers quickly grabbed the straps and forced their feet to make contact with the floor. Kaiden gave a quick nod to Shepard and he quickly called Joker.

"Joker we are clear, pressurize the cargo hold and pump in the oxygen." Shepard said as he kept a tight grip on the straps.

"_-Aye aye Commander.-_" Jokers voice bled through his helmets speakers. "_-Hold on to something-_" Shepard and Kaiden braced themselves as the gravity slowly forced their bodies to the ground. Kaiden watched as the ends of the straps slowly floated to the ground and when they finally rested he let go of the straps and walked over to Shepard. "_-Oxygen is good Commander-_" Shepard removed his helmet and turned to see the whole squad come down from the elevator.

"What is that?" Liara asked as she cautiously walked towards the large object.

Wrex bellowed past Liara, walking right up to the object. "Why is it on the ship? We have no idea what it could be." Wrex eyed the symbol on the side of the object. "I doesn't take a Salarian to figure out that's a symbol of war."

"I've never seen anything like that, not even back on the flotilla." Tali said as she ran her hands along the symbol. "It must be ancient."

"Liara." Garrus turned towards Liara. "Could it be Prothean? Maybe they left it behind for us to find."

"No it doesn't have the same architecture and I've never seen this symbol before." She answered, still scanning the object.

"Well lets see if we can crack it o-" Kaiden started but was interrupted with a loud hiss. The squad turned quickly and ran to their lockers instinctively and grabbed their weapons. Within seconds they formed a firing line in front of the object that was now blossoming open like a flower. Inside was a wall of empty slots with three of them filled stared down Shepard's team. The doors on the object slammed to a halt and the cargo hold fell into a state of silence.

"Keelah, are those what I think they are?"

"They look kind of like the pods on Ilos." Shepard murmured as he stood and walked toward the pods. The entire squad slowly rose and walked towards the object. The squad quickly snapped back into a firing stance as an array of bars and claws moved along each empty pod container, moving on to the next empty one with a low beep. When the claw came across the first pod there was a series of clicks as the squad adjusted their weapons. With a soft high pitched beep the claw extended into the container and pulled out the first pod gently placing it on the ground as it went to retrieve the other pods. Kaiden walked towards the first pod.

"How do we open them?" Liara asked as she walked behind Kaiden. Her fingers traced the edge of the pod. She jumped when a holographic console came alive and showed pictures of someone touching the console and then the pod opening. She looked up at Shepard. "I think I figured it out."

"Don't do it yet." Shepard said while raising his hand to his chin, pondering what to do. Tali walked up to the first pod. She walked up to a small window on the face of the pod and started to rub away the frost.

"Keelah, look!" Tali shouted. The group walked up to see a man lying in the pod. "His skin is grey. He looks human."

"Well his hair is messy, can't be military." Kaiden pointed out. "Look how black it is, he must be young."

"He has a scar on his face." Wrex said, his hand almost moving up to touch his own scar. "He is too young for it to be from battle."

"It looks like one of those tattoos humans get." Liara commented. "It runs from his hair line down the left side of his face and down under his shirt."

"It looks like circuitry, like patterns on a motherboard." Tali said. "Cybernetics maybe?"

"I'd say it looks like a husk but it looks natural, not forced." Garrus muttered.

"The others have the type of patterns on them!" Kaiden shouted as he looked back and forth between the other two pods. "The one has the tattoo over his entire face, and the other has it like the first but on the right side and over his eye. These two are also wearing some kind of scarf." The squad gathered talking about the possibility of a new species.

"Separate them." Shepard said as he walked towards the group.

"What do you mean?" Liara asked.

"Take the first to the med bay, the second back with our cryo stations and the last in my quarters." We are opening them but we are opening the first in the med bay just in case plus we can keep him confined and under guard." Shepard explained.

"What if they all open when you activate one of them?" Tali asked.

"Split us up, two per pod." Garrus suggested. "If the first is peaceful then open the others. That is if they don't open all at once."

"Let's get it done then." Shepard as he motioned to the pods.

**SSV Normandy  
**-The Medical Bay-  
5:54pm

Garrus and Tali stared at the pod sitting awkwardly in the center of the med bay. The two looked at each other and back at the pod.

"I guess we open it." Tali said as she punched in the warning to Shepard.

"Are you worried?" Garrus asked.

"About what?" Tali asked as she walked towards the pod.

"Maybe he has some sort of virus that can pass through your suit." Garrus joked. "You could get sick and die!" Tali sighed as she got the ok from Shepard come up on her Omni-tool. She and Garrus drew their weapons as she activated the pods controls. She took in a deep breath as she pressed it again and took a quick step back, weapon raised. With a loud hiss the air from the pod was vented and the tube slid out from the pod revealing the alien laying on a small cot. Garrus noticed he was wearing a skin tight black tee-shirt and a pair of matching black cargo pants. "Looks like military fatigues, maybe he is a soldier." Tali eyed the man's body as the frost melted off of it.

"He is very." Tali paused as she eyed him over once more. "Fit."

"Are you checking out the alien?" Garrus asked, his mandibles forming a Turian smile. Before Tali could answer the man's eyes shot open and his mouth opened but only a muffled yell could be heard. He quickly rolled off of the small cot and landed on his hands and knees and started gagging furiously.

"What is he doing?" Tali asked, and was immediately answered by the alien coughing up a plug of clear fluid with a wet gag. "Eeew." Tali whispered as she looked away.

"Yidik." The alien spat at the goo. "Sviqued y motigr vatx." He muttered as he rose to his feet. He looked around while blinking rapidly and turned to his pod. He leaned down and began to play with the console.

"Hey." Garrus said. The alien kept playing with the console and sighed.

"Shaad kita ef yidik." He replied over his shoulder. Garrus looked at Tali who responded with a shrug as she played with her Omni-tool. Garrus took a step forward and cleared his throat.

"Umm hey, you, uhh alien." Garrus stammered. Tali looked up from her Omni-tool and shook her head as she resumed messaging Shepard.

"None of the other pods have opened, Shepard says they will stay with the other pods just in case." Tali said. They both looked up to see the alien had stopped moving. He turned his head and looked at the two armed people before him and then looked around the room.

"Guoyi." The alien said as he stood up and walked towards them. He was stopped by Garrus hefting his rifle. The alien raised a brow as he looked at the weapon. Then he looked at Garrus, eying him up and down as if evaluating his worth.

"Look at his eyes!" Tali exclaimed. "They're orange!"

The alien looked over at Tali and his eyes widened slightly.

"Look at his tattoo it's, glowing orange now. Its looks just like a circuit board." Garrus pointed out. "It's defiantly cybernetics."

The ambers of color on his tattoo faded as the alien blinked. Tali's head cocked her head as she watched the alien put on a smirk while eyeing her up and down.

"Is he…" she asked

Garrus laughed. "Yeah, he is!"

"No he isn't, he can't be!" she stuttered. The alien crossed his arms and looked at Tali's eyes through her mask. With a smirk still on his face he shot her a quick wink. Garrus let out a chuckle and then a voice popped out of his Omni-tool.

"-_Garrus is everything ok? Is he hostile?_-" Shepard's asked. The alien turned and looked at the omni-tool.

"No, and he's not shy either." Garrus said with a chuckle.

Wrexs voice boomed through the Omni-tool. "_-Is he a warrior?_-"

"No he is a pervert." Tali said with her arms crossed covering her chest.

"_-What?-_"

"Nothing, Tali is being a hypocrite. It looked like he was wearing fatigues but his behavior suggest otherwise." Garrus added.

"_-Test him.-_" Wrex replied.

"What?" Garrus asked.

"_-Attack him see if he fights. Then you will know.-_" Wrex replied again, sounding more annoyed this time.

"_-Don't do that.-_" Shepard interrupts. Garrus could hear Wrex's protests in the background. "_-Communicate with him, I want to know a little bit more before we open the rest.-_"

Garrus and Tali looked back up at the alien who was now sitting at Dr. Chakwas's desk with his feet up.

"Go ahead make yourself at home." Garrus said as he grabbed another chair. The alien just smiled at him. Tali pulled up a chair and sat next to Garrus.

Garrus activated his Omni-tool and cued up a picture of a group of Turians and held in next to his face. He began making grand gestures to the picture and to himself.

"Tu-ri-an." He said slowly while still pointing to himself and the picture. The alien raised a brow and then sat up straight. He held out his open left palm for Garrus to see, gesturing to it excessively. He slowly slid his right finger across his palm and up his middle finger to reveal a blue holographic display while making 'ooh aah' noises. Tali giggled as Garrus looked less than impressed. After a few quick presses a picture of a group of the aliens that looked like him was shown and then the alien pointed at the picture and back to himself. He looked at Garrus and while making excessive mouth movements.

"DA-RI-LI-AN!" he shouted at Garrus. Garrus sighed as Tali let out a laugh.

"I like him!" she laughed but that quickly changed when the alien reach over and touched Tali's glowing mouth piece with one finger.

"Beep." The alien innocently squeaked as he smiled.

There was a long pause as the two stared at each other. "I no longer like him." Tali said coldly as she stood up, Garrus now snickering.

"Beep?" The alien said, sounding a little distraught. Tali turned around to face him.

"What?" she bitterly spat.

"Dirilian." He said while pointing to himself. "Turian." Now motioning towards Garrus. He then stretched his arms towards Tali and stared at her.

"Quarian." She let out with a sigh.

"Ahhh Beep Quarian." The alien said as he slouched back into the chair.

"My name is not Beep!" she shouted. "My name is Tali! T-a-l-i!" She said while pointing to herself. The alien shrugged and motioned to Garrus.

The Turian put both hands on his chest. "Garrus." The alien smiled and pointed to himself.

"Romyonalla." He said. Then he shrugged and twisted his hands upwards. "Romyo."

Garrus pulled up his Omni-tool and pulled up a picture of a soldier. He showed Romyo and patted his chest. Garrus then pointed back at the picture and pointed at Romyo.

"Ery." Romyo said while nodding his head yes and smiling.

"Yeah right." Tali scoffed. "Like he is a soldier."

"Don't be rude to our guest Tali." Garrus joked. He turned back to Romyo and showed him a picture of a child playing with a gun and a hardened veteran. "Which one are you?" Garrus said pointing at the two pictured and back at Romyo. Romyo looked at the pictures and pondered before pointing at the child. He then shook his hand flat against the ground and then he pointed at the veteran and shook his hand at eye level.

Romyo gestured to himself. "Romyo." And then raised his hand much higher than the marker he put for the veteran while smiling.

"Ha!" Tali laughed while pointing at Romyo. Romyo quickly developed a scowl and stared at Tali. His suddenly perked up and looked at Garrus.

Garrus opened his Omni-tool. "Shepard they are called Dirilians, this one's name is Romyo. From what I've seen it should be safe to open another one."

"_-Good, Wrex and I will open the one with the Dirilian that has the tattoos on the right side of his face.-_"

"Ok Shepard we will be waiting." Garrus replied.

"Shaad y Kid?" he asked, looking at Garrus for an answer. Garrus looked at Tali and then back to Romyo, cocking his head. Romyo looked around for a moment and then back to Garrus. "Romyo." He pointed to the cryo pod. "Shaad." He pointed to the markings on his face and then repeated "Shaad." While tracing the right side of his face. "Kid." He said as he motioned back to the marking and then covered his face. Then he pointed at the pod again and held up three fingers.

Garrus opened up his Omni-tool and brought up video of Romyo being unfrozen. He then pointed at the door and mimicked going around a corner with his hand. Romyo suddenly looked a bit on edge.

"Shaad y Kid?" he asked, more desperate now. Garrus looked at Tali as Shepard came over his omni-tool.

"_-The pod's open now Garrus.-_" Garrus looked back at Romyo.

"Shaad." He said simply. His eyes narrowed as Romyos cybernetics ignited in sudden bursts of orange. Romyos eyes opened wide and panicked as he whispered.

"_Shaad!_"

**A/N: Hey thanks for the latest chapter, once again in the next few chapters I will be explaining things about the dirilians so if you have any questions of your own PM me or leave a review. I probably wont respond because its crunch time for collage which is also why this update was late. See you next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**SSV Normandy  
**-Medical Bay-  
6:06pm

"Shaadyvelap y gatika!" Romyo yelled in a panic as he pushed Garrus and Tali out of the way to get too the door.

"Stop him!" Tali shouted at Garrus who was still casually sitting in his chair. Romyo slammed into the med bay doors and franticly started to hit his hand on the console, trying anything to get the door open.

"Don't worry its locked." Garrus calmly said as he looked at Tali. His gaze turned to see Romyo ripping apart the console and soldering wires together with what looked like a blue Omni-tool. "What is he-" his sentence was cut off by the sound of the door swooshing open. Romyo glanced back at Garrus and Tali who were now jogging towards him and yelling, and just like that he was out the door.

**SSV Normandy  
**-Captains Quarters-  
6:05pm

Shepard and Wrex watched as the pod hissed open. Shepard could feel the cold air being vented from the pod as the tube slid open and revealed the second Dirilian.

"This one must be a warrior." Wrex said as he took a step towards the opened pod. "Look at all the scars, he has seen battle."

"Give him some space." Shepard said as he motioned for Wrex to step back from the pod as he held his wrist up to his mouth. "The pod's open now Garrus." He spoke into his Omni-tool. The Krogan moved back as the Dirilians eyes shot open and he quickly rolled off of the cot and onto his hands and knees.

Shepard slowly walked towards the Dirilian as he was coughing on the floor. "Are you ok? I'm Commander Shepard." He said slowly and gently. Wrex and Shepard's heads both turned at a noise coming from outside the door.

"That was gunfire." Wrex muttered.

"Call Garrus and as-" Shepard's words were cut short by the dirilians fist impacting with the side of his face with a sickening crack. Shepard hit the ground hard, dazed by the blow. Wrex immediately threw a punch at the Dirilian who ducked under and threw an uppercut into the Krogans jaw. Wrex barely stumbled back as the Dirilian let out a fury of punches at the massive Krogan. Wrex let out a fierce yell as he grabbed the Dirilian, picked him up and threw him across the room and into the pod. The pod skipped back as the Dirilian impacted, leaving a small dent in the metal which was visible as he slouched over in a crumpled heap.

"Weak. That's too bad." Wrex grumbled as he turned to Shepard who was now blinking as he felt his jaw. "Shepard are you ok?" Before Shepard could answer Wrex heard the Dirilian yell.

"Vitiak!" the Dirilian roared as he ran toward Wrex. Wrex smiled as he slid his foot back to brace himself. He thought to himself '_This will be a good fight!'_

**SSV Normandy  
**-Cryo Bay-  
6:05pm

"I wonder how everything is going." Liara thought aloud as she stared at the last pod with Kaiden. "It is so exciting don't you think? To be the first to meet a new species is something so few people can say they have done." She went on as she bent over to look through the window on the pod.

"I'm actually a bit on edge." Kaiden said as he checked his rifle for the third time. "Just because one didn't fight doesn't mean these ones won't."

"Even if they do, we are some of the most highly trained and efficient fighters in the galaxy." Liara smiled. "We have beaten scores of geth, asari commandoes, we have even fought the rachni. I think we can handle a few new guests." Just then the sound of Garrus yelling 'Stop him!' erupted from the med bay.

"You were saying?" Kaiden shouted as they jogged towards the yelling. Just then the first dirilian ran around the corner and looked at Kaiden and Liara. "Stop!" Kaiden yelled as he ran to the right of the table to cut him off. Just like he thought, the dirilian ran around the wall to meet him face to face. Kaiden raised his rifle and advanced on him while shouting. "Do not move or I will open fire!" The dirilian didn't even hesitate as his right arm lashed out, his fingers just pushing the barrel of the gun away as Kaiden squeezed of a round that buried itself into the far wall. The dirilians left hand shot over the rifle and straight into Kaidens nose with a wet crunch. Kaiden grunted as blood gushed from his nose as the dirilian ripped the rifle from his hands as he stumbled back. Liaras biotics flared and she raised her hand but was surprised when the dirilian awkwardly tossed the rifle into her face. She quickly put her hands up and knocked the gun away but as she looked back she saw the dirilian with a blue Omni-tool raised at her. She flinched as a small spark shot from his palm but was relieved when it sailed past her. Kaiden watched as the spark sailed right into the last pod while Garrus helped him up.

"The other pod!" Tali yelled as she pointed to the pod which was now venting the cold air with a hiss. Just then the doors to the Shepard's quarters burst open as Wrex was tackled through the doorway by a second dirilian, the whole time Wrex was laughing as he landed fist after fist onto his attacker's ribcage despite being slammed into the ground.

Kaiden sputtered as blood flowed into his mouth. "What the fuck is going on?"

**Unknown Vessel  
**-Unknown Location-  
Unknown Time

Kid rolled over the edge of the cot and onto the floor. His ears were still numb from the freeze but it started to hear the telltale signs of Romyo and Shaad arguing. As he spat out the last of the paste and looked up to find a little more than an argument. Kid stumbled forward as he watched Shaad fight what appeared to be a giant lizard until a pink dirilian looking alien stumbled out of a room behind them and grabbed Shaad. That was stopped by Romyo tackling the pink dirilian off of Shaad and into a railing. Kid shook his head to make sure he wasn't seeing things but when he looked up there was a tall metallic scaled alien in front of him, it had its hand raised and was shouting something that Kid couldn't understand. Kid was about to see if he could talk to the thing but saw another feminine alien in what looked like a hazmat suit run over and kicked Shaad off of the giant lizard. Kid promptly decided that talking could wait for later and flared his biotics. With a thrust of a hand sent the scaly alien across the room and next to a blue alien with tentacles for hair that was helping another pink Dirilian off of the floor. The scaled alien pointed at Kid and looked at the blue alien.

"Liara." Kid heard it mutter. Kid wondered what that meant for a split second before the blue alien ran towards him. Kid flared his biotics and was surprised when the blue alien did the same thing. They both launched their biotics at the same time, the two steams of blue energy colliding together with violent claps of energy. Kid was surprised by the biotic powers the alien possessed, they were on par with his perhaps even better. Kid didn't wish to find out which one had more stamina so he quickly ripped one of the red and white lockers of the wall and hurled it at the blue alien. She quickly rolled out of the way but that was all the time Kid needed. He sprinted towards the alien and sent a small biotic push towards her; the push connected and slid her into the remaining lockers with a awkward thud.

"Kid!" Romyo yelled across the room. "In here now!" Kid ran towards Romyo and was pushed into a door. Romyo quickly closed the door and opened the doors control switch and sealed it shut. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned around with a smile. "So how did you guys sleep?"

"I suppose I can't complain." Kid replied. Kid noticed Romyos smile fade as he walked pass him.

"Shaad what the fuck are you doing? Why is Beep in here with us?" he asked while pointing to the hazmat suit wearing alien who was huddled in the corner.

"Little bitch kicked me." Shaad answered as he pulled open the locker on his cryo pod. He pulled out his Iridi and walked over to Beep and raised it to her head. "Don't worry I'll get rid of her." The alien let out a small whimper before Romyo knocked the gun out of Shaads hand.

"What the fuck are you doing Shaad?" Romyo yelled.

"Killing it." Shaad said, confused at the question. "It's a turned what do you care?"

"She's not a turned yidik. Beep is a quarian."

"Don't call me a yidik." Shaad mumbled as he went back to his locker. Romyo took a knee in front of the quarian and flashed a smile.

"You ok Beep?" he asked. The quarian turned her masked head to look up at him.

"Tali." She replied.

"Awesome." Romyo said as he stood up. "Uh what are you doing?" he asked as he looked at Shaad who was checking his Zealot.

"Getting ready for a fight." He said coldly. Kid spoke up before Romyo could answer.

"Where is Alpha Yry and Gait?" Kid said as he looked at Romyo.

"Yry shot Gait and I shot Yry. Shaad seriously, put that away." Romyo quickly answered.

"Yry killed Gait?" Kid said in shock. His net swirled orange flickers of confusion.

"You killed Yry?" Shaad asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he reluctantly put away the Zealot.

"Yeah. I had a pretty good one liner too!" Romyo exclaimed. "He was looking the other way and I said _'I told you they need me.' _And then BANG! Right in the eye!" Romyo said as he mimicked shooting his Iridi with his hand.

"You fucking yidik, none of that happened." Shaad said as he shook his head.

"It did!" Romyo protested.

"Brothers we have bigger problems." Kid said over the arguing. "I doubt the other aliens are just going about their business out there."

"You sure? You never know." Romyo said, crossing his arms and leaning against a desk. "They might just let all this slide."

"How do you know what race Beep is?" Shaad asked, pointing at the Quarian sitting in the corner who was now staring at him.

"We talked." Romyo shrugged.

"What are all of the other ones?" Kid asked as he pointed to the door. "I saw at least five different races, including our friend here."

"What kind is the big one" Shaad said as he felt his bruised ribs. "The only one worth fighting."

"I don't know what the giant lizard thing is, or the hot blue girl. The ones Shaad and I hit kind looked like a pinkish dirilian but they didn't have a net." Romyo explained. "Beep here is quarian like you already know and then there is the metal scaly one. That one is a turian and his name is Garrus."

"Does anybody have any ideas on how to get out of here?" Kid asked, looking at Romyo and Shaad. Romyo turned and looked at the Quarian, a smile growing on his lips.

"I have an idea."

**SSV Normandy  
**-Captains Quarters-  
6:11pm

Tali watched the dirilians argue, only making out certain words Romyo has used before as they argued momentarily even though she had no idea what they meant. She wondered how the big one, who she thinks is the one called Shaad, managed to fight off Wrex and manage to grab her to bring her in here. Her head perked up when she heard Romyo call her Beep again, she was about to say something when Shaad pulled some sort of alien pistol. To call it a pistol was an understatement though. It was pretty large, probably a magnum type caliber. Suddenly the one with the magnum pressed the end of the barrel against her head; she winched and let out a small whimper when she heard yelling. Then there was an odd sound and she looked up to see Romyo had stopped him. She was happy until she heard him start talking to Shaad.

"Teey'd hio y ediva yidik. Beep tir y quarian." Romyo said angrily while pointing at Shaad who turned back to his pod muttering something. She looked up as Romyo bent down to look at her. "Vuk li Beep?" She hated being called that, even in the small amount of time it has been happening.

"Tali." She replied angrily.

"Reka." Romyo said with a smile and resumed talking to the other two Dirilians. Tali watched as they bickered and exchanged words, some appearing kind and some were quite the opposite. She almost laughed when Romyo started to go off on a tangent about something that made him very excited until the other two shut him down. Then after a few more hushed words Romyo started to stare at her again. Smiling with that stupid grin he always seemed to wear. Suddenly he walked over and brought up his blue Omni-tool and motioned for her to do the same.

Tali hesitantly activated her Omni-tool and watched as Romyo started talking while mimicking his hand to make it look like its talking. He then pointed at the other two dirilians and made hand mouths for them, he then did what can only be described as a puppet show where the two hands talked back and forth. Tali noticed the bigger dirilian, Shaad, appeared to be mocking Romyo who turned and called him a 'yidik' which Tali assumed was some sort of curse word. Then Romyo patted Tali on her mouth piece again which caused her to become angry. He then tapped his mouth with his other hand and began making another puppet show, this time using the hand he touched Tali's mouth with say quarian over and over again and making the other say dirilian over and over. Tali quickly brought up her Omni-tool and then accessed the quarian language database. Romyo watched curiously until Tali stopped and pointed to a file with the entire quarian language contained within. Surprisingly he used his Omni-tool to scan hers, a warning coming up on her screen warning about unknown entities attempting to access her Omni-tool. She allowed them and then saw the file split into two and the second disappearing moments later.

Romyo stood and walked around for what seemed like forever as his Omni-tool screen was ablaze with progress bars. Then it went blank and folded up into nothing as Romyo walked over to her. Tali noticed that when the blue Omni-tool went off the others pulsed and gave a small tone. The other two dirilians checked their Omni-tools and leaned forward to watch as Romyo knelt down and put his face closer to Tali's then she was comfortable with.

"Did it work?" Romyo whispered to her.

"Yeah." Tali replied nervously. Then she jumped as Romyo shot up and started yelling.

"Haha! Fuck you Shaad! I told you I could do it!" he yelled at Shaad.

"Big deal." Shaad mocked as he pointed to the door. "So now you can talk to her, who cares? You still can't talk to the aliens out there!"

"Of course I can!" Romyo shouted. "If she can talk to them then so can I! My voice is already transferring to quarian which they can understand! Hopefully." Kid stood up and walked up to Tali and helped her up.

"Hello Beep, my name is Kidemalitec Sedivitecka just Kid is fine though." Kid said cheerily. "That is Shaadyvetal Vorchedelias" Shaad just stared at Tali. "And I believe you have met Romyonalla Vorchedelias."

"Just Romyo thanks." He said with a small wave.

"My name is not Beep." Tali said, trying to keep calm. "My name is Tali, Tali Zorah nar Rayya."

"My apologies Tali." Kid apologized. "Could you go outside and tell your friends not to shoot us."

"Don't worry I've got this." Romyo stated confidently as he started to fix the door. "Everybody stand back." Kid quickly moved Tali behind the pod that Shaad was now using as a barricade. The door light flick green three times and then swooshed open. Romyo slowly put his hands into the door way and then followed suit with the rest of his body. To his surprise there were over 20 armed aliens pointing their weapons at the door.

"Where is Tali?" One of the pinkish aliens barked.

"Tali is fine." Romyo slowly said. He smirked slightly when he saw all of the aliens faces twist slightly, which he assumed meant his translator worked. "We are going to let her go ONLY if you don't kill us. Now who is your captain?"

"I am. And it's Commander Shepard." Shepard stepped forward. "Who are you?"

"I'm Romyo, don't shoot me please." Romyo said, still speaking very slowly. "There was a little confusion, words were said, and fists were thrown. But I think we can talk about this like adults." There was a small murmur from the room followed by snickering which caused Romyo to glare back into the room. "Shut up. I am too."

"Find someone who can take things seriously Commander." Kaiden spoke up. "I don't think this one understands the gravity of the situation."

"I understand perfectly." Romyo said in an annoyed tone. "You however do not. You have no idea what our situation was before we went into cryo. You have no idea what is coming for you. The same thing that doomed our race is going to do the same to yours."

"The Reapers." Shepard muttered. He turned to face his crew. "Lower your weapons." Romyo turned and motioned for the people in the room to come out. Tali was first to exit the room and immediately walked over to the rest of the crew. Kid was next to leave the room, he stood next to Romyo and started looking at all of the aliens in front of him. Shaad was last and immediately locked eyes with Wrex with a smug glare on his face.

"So I am assuming you have questions?" Romyo asked.

"Yes." Shepard answered. "We have a lot to talk about."

**A/N: Ok so there is chapter 4! Sorry it's a little late even though I didn't give a date for it. I'll try for once a week but that probably won't happen for at least another month or so, school come first unfortunately. But when school is done I should be free to write more and continue this story which I'm pretty excited about. In fact I've already taken notes on ideas I had for later on in the book or books probably. Like, Mass Effect 3 later. I will also be making the chapters a bit longer too, just because I think 3500 words is a short read. So anyway, thanks for reading and please review or favorite, it really helps me get motivated to write more. Until next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Wooo! Over 1000 hits! Oh man the feels. I know I said no more updates for a while but I managed to have a "breakthrough" in my final project. Anyway I won't keep you waiting with a long A/N so without further ado… **

**SSV Normandy  
**-Mess Table-  
6:24pm

Romyo, Kid and Shaad sat at one end of the table in the mess hall. Shepard, Kaiden, Liara, Tali, Garrus all sat around the rest of the table while Wrex paced around starring at Shaad. They all sat in silence, staring at each other and then looking away when eye contact was made. Except for Romyo who had no problem staring at someone until they became alarmingly uncomfortable. Romyo decided to break the silence.

"So." He said as he drummed at the table. "Should we go around the table saying our names and hobbies?"

"I think there are more important things to discuss." Kaiden spat.

"I disagree." Romyo smirked. "It is hard to talk to people you don't know, so I say let's get to know each other. How is your nose by the way?" Kaiden glared at Romyo, unamused by his jab.

"You seem to have no problem talking to people you don't know." Liara chimed in. "In fact you seem to quite enjoy it."

"Romyo never had any friends so he is always desperate to meet new people." Shaad said dryly.

"Why don't we start with you then Shaad?" Romyo snapped. "Seeing as you're so eager to talk."

"Not much to tell." Shaad explained.

"No hobbies?" Garrus asked as he leaned back.

"Being a soldier." Shaad stonewalled. "What about you? What are you?" He said leaning forward and raising a brow at Wrex. Wrex leaned forward and grumbled.

"I am Urdnot Wrex, dirilian." Wrex said, spitting the last word in a condescending manner. The two glared at each other making the rest of the people in the room uneasy.

"Well aren't we a merry bunch?" Romyo said sarcastically. "Ok let's try this again. We will start with me and go around the table saying just your name and skillset. Specifically your job or combat role." Romyo looked around the room to see a unified nod. "I am Romyonalla Vorchedelias, call me Romyo. I am a Vitiak Honored Guard, first class. I'm our packs tech. I'm also a armorer and gunsmith." Romyo nodded to his left.

"My name is Kidemalitec Sedivitecka, call me Kid. I'm a Vitiak Honored Guard, third class. I specialize in biotics and recon."

"What is a Vitiak Honored Guard?" Tali asked. "And what are the classes you keep mentioning?"

"The classes are a ranking system." Kid explained calmly. "First class is a trainee which goes all the way to eighth class and then there is the Alpha who is the pack leader. Packs normally have thirty brothers. An Honored Guard is the most skilled warrior in the Dirilian army and Vitiak is the name of our pack."

"Where is your Alpha?" Shepard asked.

"He was indoctrinated." Kid sadly explained. The room went silent again until Romyo motioned for Shaad to talk.

"I already went." Shaad snarled.

"Tell them the whole thing." Romyo sighed.

"Shaadyvetal Vorchedelias, you can call me Shaad." Shaad rattled off blankly. "Honored Guard fifth class, heavy weapons, medic." Shaad turned and looked at Tali. Liara spoke up before Tali could speak.

"You and Romyo are brothers?" The asari asked.

"By blood yeah." Romyo interjected. "Shaad is my blood brother but Kid is my brother too."

"But not by blood?" Liara asked confused at what Romyo meant.

"They're a clan, brothers in battle." Wrex spoke up. "These two just so happen to be brothers by blood."

"Pack not a clan." Shaad corrected.

"Two word with the same meaning." Wrex shrugged. Shaad and Wrex glared at each other until Tali spoke up.

"Umm my name is Tali, Tali Zorah nar Rayya." Tali said nervously. "I'm a part of Shepard's crew and am an engineer." She looked to her left at Kaiden, praying he spoke up to get the attention off of her.

"Staff Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko of the Alliance." Kaiden said relieving Tali. "I'm a sentinel, biotic and tech specialist." Kaiden turned and looked at Shepard.

"I am Commander John Shepard." Shepard spoke up, his voice resonating authority. "Right now you are on the SSV Normandy and I am her Captain."

"Urdnot Wrex." Wrex boomed. "One of the last krogan Battlemasters." Shaad and Wrex continued to glare at each other, neither one willing to look away.

"I am Dr. Liara T'Soni." Liara said as she grew more concerned about Wrex starting a fight. "I am also a biotic."

"And they saved the best for last." Garrus mused. "My name is Garrus Vakarian, I like to think of myself as somewhat of a tactician, and I also know a little bit of tech." The group sat awkwardly for a few moments, unsure of what to say next.

"I have a question." Romyo said as he scanned the room. "I already know that Garrus is a Turian and Tali is a quarian, but what are the three of you?" he said as he pointed at Liara, Wrex, and Shepard.

"Wrex here is a krogan." Shepard started. "Liara is an asari and Kaiden and I are human."

"How many other races are in this cycle?" Kid asked.

"Well there are the batarians, hanar, drell, volus, elcor, vorcha, and the salarians." Liara said. "There are also the keepers but they just look after the Citadel. That's thirteen in total, if you include the keepers."

"Holy shit that is a lot!" Romyo said in awe. "We only had three, the kantians, rulskiars, and yidoris."

"Who was on your council?" Liara asked. Romeo looked amongst his brothers in confusion.

"Our what?" Romyo asked.

"Your council." Liara spoke up. "Who made up the government on the Citadel?" Shaad answered her as she realized what she had asked, forgetting the protheans fate.

"Our Citadel fell almost a hundred years before I was born." Shaad explained before she could apologize.

"And that's saying something." Romyo piped up.

"I am not that old." Shaad snapped.

"Your pretty old." Romyo muttered. "Do you have any questions for any of us?" Liara opened her mouth to speak but Shepard cut her off.

"Not for now." Shepard said as Liara glared at him. "I am sure some of us have more questions than others." He said as he looked at Liara. "But for now just rest, if any of you require medical attention Dr. Chakwas might be able to help."

"We fine. Dirilians don't bruise easily." Romyo said as he looked around the room. "I could use something to eat though."

"What do you eat?" Liara said quickly, eager to learn more about the Normandy's new guests. "Are you a dextro or levo based species? What did you survive on during your fight with the Reapers? How did you try to stop them? Do you have any data on the events?" Romyo stared at Liara, the occasional blink being his only movements. Without taking his eyes off of Liara he slowly leaned toward Kid

"I think she was the one with more questions." He whispered. "I would like food. Please." Liara looked at Romyo quizzically.

"We eat dextro amino food Liara." Kid said, answering her repeated question before she could ask it. "Levo based food is ok to."

"Do you not get sick from eating levo food if you're a dextro species?" Liara asked quickly. "Have your species resisted the negative outcomes of ingesting food from the wrong amino acid group?"

"Our digestive SCS allow us to consume both food groups without getting any reactions while still getting the nutritional values. Levo food however, tastes…" Kid explained while trailing off trying to find a word.

"It tastes like shit." Shaad muttered. "It has made people sick just because the taste is so shitty."

"Some levo food actually tastes pretty good." Romyo objected. "You should try new things Shaady." Shaad glanced at Romyo with a brow raised before shaking his head and resumed looking around the ship.

"What is a SCS?" Tali asked before Liara could get the chance.

"Secondary Cybernetic System." Kid said while getting a round of confused stares from Shepard and his crew before going into more detail. "Microscopic self-replicating nanobots that assist our body in countless functions. They can do everything from healing bruises and small cuts to preforming internal surgeries and fighting viruses."

"Amazing." Liara said in awe.

"So what, you're indestructible?" Kaiden spoke up.

"Well in the long run yeah." Romyo said while reclining in his chair. "Serious stuff like gunshots and deep cuts can be dealt with in time but its hurts like crazy. It's basically preforming surgeries on you but without anesthetic and it's not the fastest thing in the world. It would be no easier to kill me then it would be to kill you, the only difference is that if we survive I will be up on my feet in a day or so and you will be out for a couple weeks."

"Krogan can do the same thing." Wrex said, unimpressed by the cybernetics. "And we don't need nanobots to do it either."

"Well good for you." Romyo said sarcastically. "I'll be sure to file that away somewhere."

"I can smell the arrogance on you boy." Wrex growled. "You should watch your mouth before I see just how fast those nanobots work."

"His are pretty fast." Shaad added from across the table while smirking at Romyo who was now glaring at him.

Shepard stood up and looked to Romyo. "Tali can take you to go get some dextro food and-"

"_-Commander Shepard?-_" Joker said through the intercom.

"What is it Joker?" Shepard said as he looked at the speaker tucked neatly away in the corner.

"_-Admiral Hacket is hailing you, he says it is urgent.-"_

"I'll take it in the com room." Shepard said. "You two are free to explore the ship, the rest of you show them around." Shepard walked off toward the elevator, leaving the rest of the crew with the dirilians. The crew looked around and promptly split up, Garrus and Liara staying with Kid and Shaad, Wrex and Kaiden moved towards the elevator towards the cargo hold and were quickly followed by Shaad who broke away from Liara and Garrus, and Romyo followed Tali to the kitchen area.

**SSV Normandy  
**-Kitchen-  
6:38pm

"So." Tali said slowly, unsure of what to say to Romyo as he raided the wall fridge for food. "How long have you been a soldier?" she asked, straining to not say soldier sarcastically.

"Well." Romyo said as he rummaged through the shelves of food. "I'm about, shit, twenty four now? So I guess…Hey what's this?" he said as he held out a small white oval in his hand.

"That's an egg." Tali said as she stared at the egg in his hand. With a quick glance Romyo put the egg back in the fridge and continued his search for food.

"Anyway, so yeah if I'm twenty four then I guess… 19." He said as he pulled a piece of fruit from the fridge and giving it a sniff.

"That must have been tough." Tali consoled, as she watched Romyo examine the fruit further. "I joined up with Shepard when I was nineteen so I know what that is like."

"What?" Romyo asked as he stuffed his mouth with fruit, juice dripping down his chin before being wiped away. "You asked how long I was a soldier."

"Yes but you said nineteen so I just assumed that…" Tali pondered. "You joined the military when you were five!?" Tali exclaimed.

"Did you not?" he asked, baffled that Tali is surprised at that.

"Are you serious?" she asked. "That's horrible!"

"Not really, we all did." Romyo said as he finished his fruit. "We had to really, when I was born there wasn't much call for anything else you know?" he said casually as he looked around. He watched as Liara, Garrus, and Kid walked towards the elevator, not noticing Tali and him in the kitchen area. "Where are they going?"

"Looks like the elevator." Tali said slowly, concerned about Romyos attitude towards being a child soldier. She stared at him while he stared back at her. He shot her a quick smile.

"Are you ok?" Romyo asked through the smile.

"Are you?" Tali asked.

"Yeah." Romyo said slowly. "Why? Was I not supposed to eat that thing?" Romyo said, concerned while looking at the half eaten fruit in horror.

"No, I just… never mind." Tali nervously stuttered. "Let's go down to the cargo hold and see what everyone is doing."

**SSV Normandy  
**-Medical Bay-  
6:37pm

"This is the med bay." Garrus said as he walked in and nodded to Dr. Chakwas. "And this is Dr. Chakwas, if you ever get injured you can count on her to patch you up. Though apparently your race doesn't need to get much medical work done." Garrus added as he turned to look at Kid walk into the med bay.

"That's too bad." Dr. Chakwas spoke up. "I always find it interesting learning about a new species biological makeup." She said as she eyed Kid as he looked around.

"Hello Dr. Chakwas." Kid smiled. "My name is Kid. If you want I can give you some dirilian medical files."

"That would be lovely." Dr. Chakwas smiled. "I would like that very much in fact. How are you feeling from your thaw?"

"Just fine thanks." Kid said respectfully.

"Do you mind if I get a copy of those files." Liara asked, staring longingly at the now active blue Omni-tool on Kids wrist. "In fact any information you would be willing to give would be fantastic."

"Sure Liara." Kid said as he continued to fiddle with the Omni-tool. Suddenly he raised his hand and flicked his finger at Dr. Chakwas and Liara but frowned when their Omni-tools didn't light up. "Hmm, how did Romyo access Tali's Omni-tool." He pondered aloud.

"He seemed to know what he was doing when it comes to tech." Garrus said looking back to look at the med bays door console ripped apart, soldered wires poking out from the hole. "He got through that door fast, it was downright impressive."

"Yes Romyo is our technician." Kid explained. "He has a knack for fixing anything electronic." Suddenly Garrus's Omni-tool lit up with a ping and a message popped up. Kid turned to Liara. "What do you call your HLM tools?"

"They are called Omni-tools." Liara answered. "What does HLM stand for?"

"Hard Light Multi tool." Kids replied, suddenly his HLM tool lit up and he opened it and began to read.

"Well we better get down to the cargo hold." Garrus spoke up as he closed his Omni-tool. "Apparently Kaiden thinks that Shaad might try to fight Wrex, he said all they are doing is staring at each other and making mean faces." He joked.

"_Hey Kid_." Kid read a message aloud for the rest of the people in the room to hear. "_Come down to the cargo bay, I'm going to fight the giant lizard and I doubt you would want to miss it._ Well it looks like we better get going because he is right. I don't want to miss it."

"Well let's go watch then." Garrus smiled. The three walked out the door and headed off towards the elevator. As they reached the elevator they heard a yell from behind them.

"Hey where are you going?" Romyo said as he and Tali caught up with the rest of the group.

"Shaad is going to spar with Wrex." Kid said with a hint of excitement on his voice.

"What?" Tali asked.

"Ha! Awesome!" Romyo giddily said as they stepped into the elevator. "I'm in."

"I would be fun, I think I'll join." Kid added.

"You want to fight Wrex?" Liara said in shock. Liara Tali and Garrus looked at the dirilians as if they were crazy for being so excited to fight the krogan battle master.

"The three of you against Wrex? Sounds fair." Garrus chuckled as the elevator door slid open revealing the cargo hold. The elevator group stepped into the large bay to see Wrex leaning on a pile of crates while talking to Kaiden as he stared across the room at Shaad. The elevator group quickly split up, Shepard's crew joining Wrex and Kaiden, while Romyo and Kid joined Shaad. The two groups began talking among themselves, taking quick glances at the group across the room.

Suddenly Shaad and Wrex simultaneously broke away from their groups and began to walk towards each other with confident swagger stopping mere inches apart. They continued to glare at each other until Kaiden spoke up.

"Are you sure you two want to do this?" Kaiden said.

"Yes." Shaad and Wrex replied at the same time.

"Awesome." Romyo whispered. "Kid and I want to fight too."

"Fine by me." Wrex said.

"Three on one hardly seems fair." Kaiden countered.

"Your right." Wrex said smugly. "They need more people."

"Please." Romyo laughed. "How about we fight in teams of three?"

"We could do that." Kaiden spoke up. "Each of us could have a two minute bout and then switch off."

"That sounds reasonable." Kid said. "What are the teams?"

"We clearly know one team." Garrus said as he glanced at Wrex and Shaad. "Are we using biotics because I might be in trouble."

"No." Shaad growled. "Only hand to hand."

"Fine then." Kaiden said. "Me and Romyo will fight, Garrus can fight Kid." Suddenly Shepard walked into the cargo bay.

"Nobody is fighting on my ship." Shepard ordered as he walked from the elevator

"What!?" Romyo complained. "Why not?"

"Hacket needs us to investigate geth activity on Maji in Vamshi system." Shepard said as he walked over to the groups. "All hands on deck people. Gear up, we are half an hour out." Shepard looked at the groups and nodded before he returned to the elevator. Shepard's squad quickly broke off towards the line of lockers and began to inspect their weapons. Romyo, Kid, and Shaad looked among themselves, not sure of what to do.

"Well." Romyo softly muttered. "I'm thinking we should join them."

"We could lend a hand." Kid suggested. "We might not be welcome though, we are new to the ship and have not even been accepted into the crew."

"We will just go then." Shaad said. "What is a geth?"

"How would I possibly know that?" Romyo asked. "I'm in the same new universe as you Shaad."

"Well let's find out." Shaad said as he lead Romyo and Kid to the elevator.

**SSV Normandy  
**-Arms Lockers-  
6:50pm

"We are they going?" Wrex muttered as he eyed the dirilians walking towards the elevator.

"I'm not sure." Tali pondered. "Maybe the other two were hungry?"

"Well they have been frozen for…" Kaiden trailed off. "Actually, did they mention how long they have been in cryo for?"

"No but I will add that to my list of questions." Liara said as she grabbed her armor case. "I'm going to go get changed for the mission." She said as she started to walk off with her armor.

"I'm going to let you guys get ready." Tali said as she followed Liara. "Liara hold on! I'll ride up with you."

Wrex began to take apart his shotgun as Garrus sighted his sniper and Kaiden started to put on his armor.

"So what do you think of the new guys?" Kaiden asked as he clipped together his chest piece. "I'm not sure about them. They seem so… different you know?"

"Yeah but look at us." Wrex said as he glanced at Garrus and Kaiden. "This crew is like a mixed bag of the universe."

"Wrex is right." Garrus said, not looking away from his rifle. "We've got it all. Human, krogan, asari, turian, and quarian. Not to mention we are also on the best ship in the galaxy, the best gear in the galaxy and the soldiers in the galaxy." Garrus gloated. Wrex let out a hardy chuckle as he looked at the scratches on his armor, remembering each battle fondly.

"Alright I'm ready." Kaiden said as he grabbed his rifle. "Let's head up."

"About time." Wrex growled.

**SSV Normandy  
**-Elevator-  
6:51pm

"So how many questions are you up to now?" Tali asked as she checked her shotgun. "I can only imagine it's in the hundreds."

"Not quite." Liara softly laughed. "Maybe I will break a hundred an a few hours." The elevator door slid open and the two walked out and headed to the med bay. As they walked they saw Kid in the end of the cryo bay looking at his cryo pod and someone behind the open door of the wall refrigerator.

"Hi Romyo." Tali yelled to the person in the fridge.

"How do you know that's Romyo?" Liara asked.

"Lucky guess." Romyo shouted from behind the fridge. Liara raised a brow at Tali with a slight smirk.

"He's right." Tali shrugged, smiling under her mask. "Just a guess!"

"Liara, Tali." Dr. Chakwas nodded. "Would you like some tea? I just brewed some before heading off to bed."

"No thank you doctor." Liara said as she waved her off. "We are just getting ready to leave."

"So late?" Dr. Chakwas exclaimed. "It's almost seven o'clock."

"Unfortunately geth don't sleep." Tali huffed as her and Liara entered the med bay. Their pace slowed as they looked at Romyos pod which now had a large open container stuck out from underneath the built in cot.

"Strange." Liara muttered. "This wasn't on the other pod."

"Maybe Romyo opened it." Tali wondered. "I'll go ask him." Liara walked into her room and laid out her armor case. With a few clicks the case sprang open revealing her phoenix armor. She unbuttoned her shirt and took it off before neatly folding it and placing it with the other sets of identical clothes. She reached to take off her pants but jumped when she heard a sharp scream from just outside her door.

Liara quickly opened her door and her biotics flared, ready for whatever had caused the yelling. When she opened the door she saw two things. She saw Tali cowering on the floor, muffled cries of panic escaping her mouth. She also saw a towering figure coated head to toe in thick matte black plates standing over Tali. The armored man's head snapped up to look at Liara before taking a step towards her and raising a hand. Liaras biotics pulsed violently as her hand whipped around her side, hurling a ball of biotics at the intruder.

"NO DON'T-" Romyo yelled before the biotics smashed into his chest sending him slamming against the med bay door with a load crack.

"Oh my!" Liara let out as her biotics faded, she quickly ran over to Romyo who was now sitting against the door. "I am so sorry. Are you ok?"

Romyo gave his head a quick shake before springing up to his feet. "Yeah I'm fine. That was actually pretty awesome." He quietly whispered. "I like the look by the way." Romyo said nodding to Liara who was just wearing her tight black pants and black sports bra. "It really brings out your uh, blue…ness." He stuttered before averting his eyes. Liara looked down and her face flushed pink with embarrassment before awkwardly jogging back to her room. Romyo continued to stare at the wall before saying, "Is she gone now?" He slowly turned to see Tali glaring at him.

"You bosh'tet!" Tali said as she stomped up to Romyo. "Why were you just standing at the door like that? I almost had a heart attack!"

"I was about to come in when you opened the door!" Romyo defended. "It's my room anyway!"

"This is the med bay!" Tali yelled. "This isn't your room!"

"That's my cot!" Romyo yelled as he pointed to the pod. "How is this not my room?"

"People don't live in the med bay!" Tali shouted while throwing her hands up in the air.

"What's going on here?" Shepard asked as he marched into the room. He stopped as his eyes fell upon Romyo. "What are you wearing?"

"Armor." Romyo blankly answered.

"Why?"

"I don't like being shot."

"No why are you wearing it? Where do you think you are going?"

"You said all hands on deck commander." Kid said from behind Shepard as he walked through the door, also wearing the black armor. Shepard casually turned to see that Kid was followed by Shaad. "We are here to help." Shepard stood silently, staring at the Honored Guards waiting for an answer.

"Do you need weapons?" Shepard asked as he looked at Romyo.

"Heh." Romyo snorted. "Do we need weapons." He casually walked over to his pod and reached into the open armor locker, with a quick tap a holographic display popped up in the corner of the locker. After a few button presses the lockers base flipped over to reveal a plethora of weapons and gadgets.

"Now what's all this?" Shepard said as he looked over the weapons.

"Well there'll be time to explain the details of the guns later." Romyo said as he picked up his LAR and cycled the cylinder. "This is the Light Assault Repeater or LAR. Thirty six round capacity, 10mm plasma rounds. Comes rail capable" He said like he was trying to sell the weapon to Shepard.

"Plasma?" Shepard asked as he eyed the weapon.

"Yeah why?" Romyo asked as he folded the rifle and placed it on his back. "What kinda ammo do you use?"

"We use small chips of metal that are fired at a fraction of the speed of light." Shepard said. Before he could continue Romyo cut him off.

"Mass accelerated rounds right?" Romyo asked, more to himself then Shepard. "Probably an ammo block in there that the rounds are taken from. Gives you a big cap. Overheating must be a factor. Trading mass for velocity."

"Right. You know seem to know your stuff." Shepard said. "I have never had to change an ammo block yet. What else do you have in there?"

"Iridi magnum, standard issue." Romyo said as he held up the magnum. "15mm rounds at the cost of a six round cap."

"Impressive." Shepard said as he watched Romyo place the magnum on his hip. "Grenades?" he asked as he watched Romyo grab eight small cylinders.

"Well look at you!" Romyo kidded as the bottom of his chest plate opened. "Small but powerful and can be folded open..." He said as he took a grenade and unfolded it to make a long half cylinder. "… and is now a directional breaching charge!"

"And the you two have the same gear?" Shepard said as he turned to Shaad and Kid.

"Different primaries." Shaad said gruffly. "I have a heavy repeater, Kid's got a ranged repeater. Plus a few specialist items."

"All right, you can come." Shepard said, making Romyo pump his fist in victory. "Any other special traits? I need to know what you can do."

"I know explosives inside and out." Romyo added.

"Combat specialist. I'm a soldier to the bone." Shaad said as stood straighter. "Tell me to do something and I'll get it done." He said confidently.

"Stealth and reconnaissance." Kid said with a cool confidence.

"Good. We should be on the ground in a few minutes so follow me." Shepard said as he led the men towards the stairs. He turned and a smile crept across his lips.

"Let's go kill some geth."

**A/N: Ok so that was chapter 5. Once again, fell free to review and follow. See you next time!**


End file.
